-- THE ARCHIVE --

MALAYSIA
Judicial CP - November 2010

Daily Express, Kota Kinabalu, 2 November 2010

Local's rape sentence enhanced to 15 years, 6 strokes

Kota Kinabalu: A 23-year-old local, who withdrew his
appeal against his sentence of 10-year imprisonment and two
strokes of the cane on a gang rape charge, saw his sentence
enhanced to 15 years' jail and his cane penalty increased to six
lashes instead by the High Court here.

Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum
ordered Mohammad Shahminan Tangah @ Radin, who had obtained a
stay of execution of sentence, to start serving the sentence from
Monday.

However, Malanjum said the sentence should be enhanced because
though Shahminan had pleaded guilty to the charge, the nature and
the circumstances must also be taken into consideration.

The victim was gang raped and therefore her interest must be
taken into account, said Malanjum.

He said the 10-year imprisonment was quite inadequate as
according to the prosecution, the range of punishment for such
offence was between 15 years and 18 years.

Click to enlarge

"I enhance the imprisonment to 15 years' jail and order
Shahminan be given six strokes of the cane," said Malanjum,
in exercising his reversionary powers on the case.

The court had earlier struck out the appeal.

Shahminan was on July 28 this year sentenced after he pleaded
guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl at 11pm on Dec 19, 2008 at a
village in Sindumin, Sipitang.

Earlier, Senior Federal Counsel Salim Soib, who appeared for
the prosecution, informed the court that the imprisonment range
under the new section for gang rape was between 15 and 18 years.

He said trial was ongoing for Shaminan's three co-accused.

Counsel Loretto S.Padua Jr, who represented Shahminan, in
urging the court not to enhance the sentence, submitted that the
latter had pleaded guilty at the early stage of the case and had
saved the court time as well as had given full cooperation to the
police during the investigation of the case.

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 11 November 2010

Jailed for raping pupil

Former teacher gets 36 years and four strokes of rotan

By Ruben Sario

Paying
the price: Adrian being led out by a policeman at the Sessions
Court in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.

KOTA KINABALU: A former teacher at a private
school here has been jailed for a total of 36 years and ordered
to be caned four times after the Sessions Court here found him
guilty on two counts of raping a 12-year-old student earlier this
year.

Sessions Court judge Duncan Sikodol ordered Adrian Simon, 31,
to be imprisoned 18 years for each of the two charges but allowed
the jail term to run concurrently.

He also allowed a stay of the sentence pending an appeal
against the ruling in the High Court.

Adrian was accused of raping the girl between February and
March between 2.10pm and 3.30pm. He was also accused of raping
the girl at about 10.25am on March 26.

The alleged offences took place at the storeroom of the
school's science laboratory.

In his ruling, Duncan said he found that the very credible and
consistent evidence of the girl was enough to convict Adrian.

"Although I am aware of the danger of convicting the
accused on uncorroborated evidence and having warned myself of
the same, given the very credible and consistent evidence of the
victim, I think it is safe to rely on her evidence alone as it
outweighs the inherent risks," said Duncan.

Click to enlarge

Adrian's counsel Khairul V. Othman immediately asked the court
for a lenient sentence as his client had been cooperative with
the authorities and suffered much anguish since his arrest.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Luke Ressa Balang, in pressing for a
deterrent sentence, said as a teacher, Adrian had the
responsibility of caring for his students and he had breached
this trust.

"He raped a young girl. Imagine the stress
and humiliation her family had to endure," he added.

Daily Express, Kota Kinabalu, 23 November 2010

Raping confining woman: 2 jailed

Kota Kinabalu: A male model and a jobless man were sentenced to a total of 36 and 38 years' jail plus whipping
respectively on two counts of sex crimes and also wrongfully
confining a woman last year.

Judge Ummu Khaltom Abdul Samad handed the sentence to jobless
Maisur Muji, 20, and model Abdul Malik Marsah, 21, after ruling
that the defence had failed to cast a doubt on the case against
them.

The duo were found guilty of all charges against them after
nine prosecution and three defence witnesses were called in the
hearing.

In convicting them, Ummu said the victim was confined in the
car by Maisur and Abdul Malik.

"The evidence also showed Maisur had pulled the victim's
hair, slapped her and that the victim suffered injuries.

"Nevertheless, Abdul Malik did not assault the victim but
drove the car to the place of incident where they committed the
offences against the victim," Ummu said.

On the first count, Maisur was handed 18 years' jail and
ordered to be given seven lashes of the cane, while Abdul Malik
was jailed 16 years and ordered given four lashes of the cane for
raping the 23-year-old woman between 3.40am and 5.15am on July
18, 2009 at a beach in Tuaran.

Click to enlarge

On the second count, Maisur and Abdul Malik were jailed 18
years and ordered given two strokes of the cane each for
committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature on the
same woman at the same place and time.

On the third count, the duo were jailed another two years and
ordered to pay a fine of RM1,000 in default three months' jail
each for wrongfully confining the same woman in a car with intent
to rape her at 2.30am on July 18, 2009 at the Waterfront here.

However, Ummu ordered the duo to serve the sentences
concurrently.

Earlier, counsel Hamid Ismail, who defended Abdul Malik,
applied for a minimum sentence on the grounds that his client is
a young offender and he needed to look after his two children
aged three and four years.

According to Hamid, his client had suffered a lot since he was
charged and had not received any modelling work.

Maisur also applied for a light sentence and asked for the
sentence to run concurrently.

However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Effizah Ernie Idris who
conducted the prosecution pressed for a heavy sentence.

Meanwhile, the court allowed Hamid's application to stay the
sentence of Abdul Malik pending appeal against the decision in
the High Court.